God is close to the lonely

By Francine & Byron Pirola | July 25, 2024 |

 Towards the end of July we celebrate World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. This year (2024) the theme is loneliness and references Ps 71:9 “Do not cast me off in my old age”.   Loneliness is defined as ‘a subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack (or loss) of companionship’. It’s different to ‘aloneness’ which describes ‘the…

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Retired, Extremely Dangerous

By Francine & Byron Pirola | December 13, 2019 |

A few weeks ago, we watched the action comedy R.E.D. featuring Bruce Willis as retired black ops agent whose peaceful retirement is disrupted by a CIA order to eliminate him. The comedy rests in the ridiculously casual way the characters approach their killing careers. RED, it turns out stands for his classification: ‘retired, extremely dangerous’.…

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Making the Connection…with Arguments

By Francine & Byron Pirola | March 31, 2016 |

Neither of us likes it when we disagree, yet we’ve had more than a few in our 28 years of marriage – some of them leading to horrible arguments. When disagreements descend into arguments, they usually become hurtful and unproductive, leaving us feeling bitter and exhausted. But are arguments all bad, or always harmful? Many…

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